Posted
by
samzenpus
on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @03:03AM
from the we're-going-to-need-a-bigger-sidewalk dept.

As if the flood waters weren't bad enough for the people of Queensland, it now appears that there are sharks swimming in the streets. Two bull sharks were spotted swimming past a McDonald’s in the city of Goodna, Butcher Steve Bateman saw another making its way past his shop on Williams street. Ipswich councillor for the Goodna region Paul Tully said: "It would have swam several kilometres in from the river, across Evan Marginson Park and the motorway. It’s definitely a first for Goodna, to have a shark in the main street."

Hardly surprising is it? Rivers breaking their banks mean things that would normally be in the river are now in places other than the river. Considering the large amount of ~actual~ news coming out of the flooding situation, not sure why this random factoid above all others has made Slashdot. (Yes I know it's Idle...but still...)

Bullsharks are actually a bit of a hybrid. They are usually found on our coast lines but frequently swim up river. The picture is misleading too as is the one on wikipedia. These things are normally quite small when actually swimming around in shallow rivers. Though they are aggressive bastards. We've been snapped at before while wakeboarding in one of our rivers.

The bull shark is one of the few sharks which can make the fresh/salt water transition. They even have a special gland which secretes salt, allowing them to function properly. In fact, its believed that bull sharks may actually raise their young in fresh water - which provides many advantages.

Bull sharks are actually fairly common in large rivers in the US, including and especially in the Mississippi. Over the last century, its now believed many cases of both humans and pets going missing in such rivers are

So one person reports (unconfirmed) two bull sharks in flood waters. Local media the next day generally has the opinion the story is a load of bollocks and now almost a week later it appears on Slashdot (a news for nerds site) as fact.... OK.

If you want some (slightly) more nerdy stuff to report about the floods go research the Wivenhoe dam.

Unconfirmed, but reported multiple times by different people. It's not really that unbelievable though, they are often spotted (and have actually attacked animals and people) even further up the river. The butcher shop is roughly 600metres from the original river bank, but was underwater on the 13th.

Are you questioning the ability of/. and its community to aptly address serious issues, such as diet, the environment, existence of god, and how to meet/pickup women? Doest thou not know the power of the brain and the ability of geeks -- who can code -- to manage the rest of life?...

The show "Animal Face-Off" on Discovery did their first episode on Great White vs Saltwater Croc, and their conclusion was that the Great White would win, mostly because it doesn't have to surface to breathe:

The shark is looking for food. It hits the crocodile with the bump-and-bite technique. It then tries to attack. The crocodile bites the shark's tail, but can't get a good grip. The shark swims away and comes back for a full-on assault, bu

They must be a new type of shark given that the land has been relatively dry for the last five days or so. Either that, or Slashdot is posting things days after they occur... Nah - new type of shark is bound to be the explanation!

Seriously, I've lived in Australia all my life, and I can tell ya', there's always been sharks swimming in the streets!

Blimey, if I had a 2 dollar coin for every time I've seen a shark swimming in the streets, I'd be a billionaire! (1 billion AUD ~ 23,540 USD)

We got it all down here, land sharks, flying snakes, drop bears, bunyips, flys that bite, the worlds most poisonous spiders. Basically, if it's an animal that can kill you, we've got it. Crikey, we even import dangerous animals from other countries [blogspot.com], just to make sure we've got 'em!

Land sharks? Phft! Nobodies ever died from a land shark!

Now drop bears, that's a lethal animal. I lost my father to a drop bear, came out of no where. R.I.P. Dad.

I know, right? Fuckin' hoopsnakes! So sick of them rolling about the country side, terrifying old grandmas, going above the speed limit, with absolutely no regard for polite society. I was at the pub the other day with Dazza, and we saw a hoopsnake carrying a fucking didgeridoo he'd stolen off some abo, who was limping because he was only wearing one thong!

We thought that was a bloody sight for sore eyes, but we shut our mouths when we realized it was Sir Ernie Dingo. Luckily he was too pissed to realize wh

The NZD will never reach parity, unless the US/China/etc decide that they really really want a lot more wool/lord of the rings, or unless they develop a significantly sized financial market. Which is possible, but unlikely.

A billion in the Australian metric system, is 1/10th of a Waggawagga, or about 3/5ths of a Malala. It doesn't quite work the same as you guys over there.

If you convert it correctly, then it comes out to a little bit above what I quoted ya. However, when you take into account the money you have to pay the Aborginal gangs on your way to the Reserve Money Trader of Australia (it's in Canberra), you'd come out with about what I quoted. If ya don't pay them, they'll bash ya, and make ya walkabout it off.

[Scene: A New York apartment. Someone knocks on the door.]Woman: [not opening the door] Yes?Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Arlsburgerhhh?Woman: What?Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Johannesburrrr?Woman: Who is it?Voice: [pause] Flowers.Woman: Flowers for whom?Voice: [long pause] Plumber, ma'am.Woman: I don't need a plumber. You're that clever shark, aren't you?Voice: [pause] Candygram.Woman: Candygram, my foot. You get out of here before I call the police. You're the shark, and you know it.Voice: Wait. I-I'm on

1 more time and I'm done with this site. If a lot of these things aren't actually factual, I'll migrate to a better source

My sister in law is from Queensland and she knows people in Goodna. She told me about the sharks a couple of days ago. I am pretty sure the story comes from the Goodna butcher and I have no reason to disbelieve him.

"1 more time and I'm done with this site. If a lot of these things aren't actually factual, I'll migrate to a better source"

Sharks are very common in Qld rivers and can be found up to 100km from the sea, Goodna is less tha 20km from the sea. As a 50yro Aussie who has heard stories like this in previous floods it does not strike me as fake news. - YMMV

Goodna is only "good" for a landmark as half-way between Toowoomba and the Gold Coast!

BTW, Toowoomba had a massive never-before-seen flood on the Monday before this story. If a shark swam past the main McDs in Toowoomba THAT would be news (since that was a flash flood, and the water would have ended up in the Murray-Darling system, and flowed into the ocean ~2000km away)

On the 24 hour cycle we're awake when you guys are not so our stuff ends up doing the night backfill on Slashdot. You want 24 hour editors so you get Samzenpus and Timothy.True or not the story is possible. That sort of small shark has been recorded biting people 25km upstream from salt water. Also that silty water that covered everything was definitely opaque at 2mm (couldn't see concrete through it in full sunlight) so who knows where a shark will go in that.